Aviation Ordnance Managers Career Progression Course

By Gunnery Sgt. Samuel Lee

We’ve all heard it before: training is continuous. Throughout our careers, we undergo initial training, sitting through classroom lectures and performing practical exams; informal training involving lectures and on-thejob training and endless syllabuses on various qualifications or licenses for equipment. These programs and courses are developed to ensure you’re proficient on the job and can perform safely.

As ordnance technicians come up through the ranks, you may look up and see your senior enlisted ordnance staff and officers performing tasks such as planning and organizing, filling out various required reports and managing the division. Predecessors are hopefully passing on these skills to their junior Sailors and Marines. Fortunately, there are courses you can attend even after you reach the rank of gunnery sergeant or chief in the ordnance community that will help your transition to a leadership role.

Ordnance senior enlisted, E-7 and above, officers and civilians currently working within the ordnance field can attend the Aviation Ordnance Managers Career Progression course (AOMCP) at Whiting Field, Florida. This course was previously known as the Aviation Ordnance Officers Career Progression course, and the recent name change was to be inclusive of the senior enlisted aviation ordnance managers since the course was initially designed for ordnance officers and is now offered to senior enlisted, according to Lt. Manuel Penas. The AOMCP course is designed to expand the knowledge of senior ordnance personnel to prepare them for the many diverse ordnance programs and responsibilities they may be assigned to in the future. To do this, AOMCP is split into three levels of training.

Level I is a four-week course focusing on ordnance management, explosive safety quantity distance, logistics and operational challenges that a newly commissioned ordnance limited-duty officer, chief warrant officers, Marine warrant officers and senior enlisted will encounter as they start to perform their duties as ordnance managers. The coursework includes classroom instruction, labs and evaluations.

Level II is another classroom-instructed, two-week course aimed more toward ordnance officers and senior enlisted midway through their careers. During this course, students focus on explosive safety inspections and programs. Students also receive training from explosive safety program managers with briefs from our own personnel from the Naval Safety Command. If you are already serving in or are ready to rotate to G-3 weapons, station weapons officer, or a CVN or LHA/LHD (amongst many others), then this course will be very useful to help familiarize you with your new or current duties.

Finally, we have Level III, where senior ordnance officers and enlisted personnel, E-9s, get together for two weeks and discuss the current state of affairs within the ordnance community. All attendees should be prepared to give a brief pertaining to their current billet. Along with current affairs within the community, they also discuss the direction the community is heading and address fleet issues.

If you have recently found yourself within the ranks of senior ordnance personnel or have been here for some time and are ready to progress to the next step, attending these courses is necessary to help with your professional development. For course quotas and descriptions, visit the Catalog of Navy Training Courses site:

Navy personnel can be enrolled via the Enterprise Navy Training Reservation System and Marine Corps Training Information Management System for Marines.